549th Night Fighter Squadron
Encyclopedia
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
unit. It is assigned to the 57th Operations Group
57th Operations Group
The 57th Operations Group is a non-flying component of the 57th Wing, assigned to the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command. The group is stationed at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.-Overview:...
, and is stationed at Nellis AFB, Nevada.
Overview
549th Combat Training Squadron hosts Green Flag-West exercises, providing the ultimate peacetime close air support training for Joint and Coalition personnel in the integration and employment of air, space, and cyber power in conjunction with ground force operations.World War II
Established as a Night Fighter Squadron in April 1944, trained in Southern CaliforniaSouthern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
under Fourth Air Force
Fourth Air Force
The Fourth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Reserve . It is headquartered at March Air Reserve Base, California....
with a specialized version of the A-20 Havoc modified for night combat.
Deployed to Seventh Air Force
Seventh Air Force
The Seventh Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces . It is headquartered at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea....
in the Central Pacific Area in February 1945, initially being stationed on Saipan in the Mariana Islands. Mission was the air defense of the Marianas, specifically the B-29 airfields from Japanese night intruder aircraft. Moved to Iwo Jima in March 1945, flying long range missions over eastern China and night intradiiton missions to chi Chi Jima.
Remained on Iwo Jima after the war, then moved to Guam, February 1956 and inactivated in February 1947.
Modern era
Trained forward air controller (FAC) and Strike Control and Reconnaissance (SCAR) pilots, 1969–1988. Beginning in 1991, conducted air support and air interdiction sorties in "Air Warrior (later, Green Flag)" exercises to train USAF fighter pilots and the aerospace power component to the US Army's brigade combat training.Lineage
- Constituted as: 549th Night Fighter Squadron in April 1944
- Activated on May 1, 1944
- Inactivated on February 5, 1946
- Activated on June 25, 1946
- Inactivated on February 19, 1947
- Re-designated as 549th Tactical Air Support Training Squadron on 18 Aug 1969
- Activated on 15 Oct 1969
- Inactivated on 1 Jul 1988
- Re-designated as 549th Joint Training Squadron, and activated, on 1 Nov 1991
- Re-designated as 549th Combat Training Squadron on 1 Jul 1994.
Assignments
- Fourth Air ForceFourth Air ForceThe Fourth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Reserve . It is headquartered at March Air Reserve Base, California....
, 1 May 1944
- Attached to 319th Wing, 1 May-c. 4 Oct 1944
- 7th Fighter Wing, 20 Oct 1944
- VII Fighter Command, 1 Nov 1944
- Army Air Forces, Middle Pacific, 16 Jul 1945
- Attached to:VII Fighter Command, 16 Jul-c. 20 Nov 1945
- Attached to: Twentieth Air Force Combat Staging Center, 20 Nov-3 Dec 1945
- Attached to: Iwo Jima Base Command, Provisional, 3 Dec 1945-
- Seventh Air ForceSeventh Air ForceThe Seventh Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces . It is headquartered at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea....
, 1 Jan-5 Feb 1946
- Seventh Air Force
- Remained attached to Iwo Jima Base Command, Provisional, to 5 Feb 1946
- 20th Fighter Wing, 25 Jun 1946-19 Feb 1947
- Attached to 21st Fighter Group, 25 Jun 1946-19 Feb 1947
- 1st Special Operations (later, 834th Tactical Composite; 1st Special Operations) Wing1st Special Operations WingThe 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, Florida is one of two United States Air Force active duty Special Operations wings and falls under the Air Force Special Operations Command ....
, 15 Oct 1969 - 549th Tactical Air Support Training Group, 15 Dec 1975-1 Jul 1988
- 57th Operations Group57th Operations GroupThe 57th Operations Group is a non-flying component of the 57th Wing, assigned to the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command. The group is stationed at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.-Overview:...
, 1 Nov 1991 - USAF Air Ground Operations School, 3 Feb 1998
- 57th Operations Group57th Operations GroupThe 57th Operations Group is a non-flying component of the 57th Wing, assigned to the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command. The group is stationed at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.-Overview:...
, 4 Oct 2007–Present
- 1st Special Operations (later, 834th Tactical Composite; 1st Special Operations) Wing
Stations
- Hammer AAFFresno Yosemite International AirportFresno Yosemite International Airport , formerly known as Fresno Air Terminal, is a joint civil-military public airport located in eastern Fresno, in Fresno County, California. The airport is more than south of Yosemite National Park on California State Route 41. The airport covers and has two...
, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, May 1, 1944 - Meadows Field, Bakersfield, California, July 26 – October 4, 1944
- Kipapa Gulch Airfield, Territory of HawaiiHawaiiHawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, October 20, 1944 – February 15, 1945 - East FieldEast Field (Saipan)East Field is a former World War II airfield on Saipan in the Mariana Islands.-History:Saipan had been occupied by the Japanese since World War I, and by mid-1944, the Americans had advanced inside the Japanese ring of defense in the Pacific Theater...
, SaipanSaipanSaipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...
, Mariana IslandsMariana IslandsThe Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east...
(Air Echelon), February 20, 1945 – March 20, 1945
- North FieldNorth Field (Iwo Jima)North Field or Iwo Jima Air Base is a World War II airfield on Iwo Jima in the Bonin Islands, located in the Central Pacific. The Bonin Islands are part of Japan...
, Iwo JimaIwo JimaIwo Jima, officially , is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The island is located south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo...
, Bonin Islands (JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
) (Ground Echelon), March 14, 1945 – February 5, 1946- Northwest AABAntonio B. Won Pat International AirportAntonio B. Won Pat International Airport , also known as Guam International Airport, is an airport located in Tamuning and Barrigada, three miles east of the capital city of Hagåtña in the U.S. territory of Guam. It is named for Antonio Borja Won Pat, the first delegate from Guam to the United...
, GuamGuamGuam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
, Marianas Islands, June 25, 1946 – February 19, 1947 - Eglin AF Aux Field No. 9 (Hurlburt Field)Hurlburt FieldHurlburt Field is a U.S. Air Force installation located in Okaloosa County, Florida, immediately west of the Town of Mary Esther. It is part of the greater Eglin Air Force Base reservation, and is home to Headquarters Air Force Special Operations Command , the 1st Special Operations Wing , the...
, FL, 15 Oct 1969 - Patrick AFB, FL, 15 Dec 1975-1 Jul 1988
- Nellis AFB, NV, 1 Nov 1991–Present
- Northwest AAB
Aircraft
- P-61 Black WidowP-61 Black WidowThe Northrop P-61 Black Widow was the first operational U.S. military aircraft designed specifically for night interception of aircraft, and was the first aircraft specifically designed to use radar. It was an all-metal, twin-engine, twin-boom design developed during World War II...
, 1944–1946 - P-70 Havoc, 1944
- OV-10 BroncoOV-10 BroncoThe North American Aviation Rockwell OV-10 Bronco is a turboprop light attack and observation aircraft. It was developed in the 1960s as a special aircraft for counter-insurgency combat, and one of its primary missions was as a forward air control aircraft...
, 1969–1988 - O-2 SkymasterO-2 SkymasterThe O-2 Skymaster is a military version of the Cessna 337 Super Skymaster utilized as an observation and forward air control aircraft...
, 1975–1986